Posts tagged Agincourt

Fellow adventurers ‘Episode 1′ is now on itunes, Hipcast, and Podcast Alley. Of course you can listen to it here on the blog. January marked the opening of Season One of Ancient Rome Refocused – a six-part podcast on the subject of ancient Rome. In ‘Episode 1′ we discussed the question of “What have the Romans ever done for us?”Please feel free to leave your comments on the episode.

This blog entry is a partial transcript of Episode One. (Available on itunes, Hipcast and Podcast Alley).

I promise you I will not recite dates or who said what to whom. On this podcast there will no term or thesis papers read out for your approval. THIS IS NOT A COLLEGE COURSE. Hopefully you are reading this because , like me, you have a fascination with Ancient Rome.

What I plan to do is explore Ancient Rome while keeping a firm footing in the ‘now.’ That means we will be making plenty of comparisons between then and now. For example we will look at movies, art, drama, and government and how each has been inspired by the Romans.

On this podcast we can just as easily talk about the HBO series Rome, interview an author, discuss an archelogical dig, or even go “live” to a gladiatorial reenactment. I will also welcome suggestions from you for future podcasts.

HISTORY FOR THE BRAVE! It isn’t all in well swept libraries or between the covers of a book. Sometimes you have to go out and get dirty to find the truth. (Note*…the photo to the left I had to share with you. If there is anything that illustrates digging up pieces of the past, this is it. Imagine finding this in your backyard staring back up at you?)

What we know about the Romans comes from dirty artifacts, dust covered antiquities, histories painstakenly copied by Muslims to be picked up later by curious Christians (yes, many great western works were saved by Muslim scholars). History comes from poetry, plays, letters, and accounts of wine shipments on yellowed parchment. It also comes from TV news reports of amphoraes (containers) of wine laid out upon the ocean floor, burial crypts, and even letters found underneath a staircase from a Roman Soldiers that missed his home in Alexandria (this story was on NPR). All of these things have been found one time or another unearthed or lifted out from the bottom of the ocean. Even discarded poems by a famous Greek poet was found in an ancient garbage pile.

(Note* Simonides, 550-460 B.C., poems found in a trash pile near the Egyptian City of Oxyrrnyncus.)

The past comes to us through pieces — often broken pieces and we have to put it together like a jigsaw puzzle in hopes of learning something about the past.

At my Mother’s house is a carved relief of Henry of Fifth and his knights before the battle of Agincourt.

(Note* The battle of Agincourt was an English victory over a larger French Army in the Hundred Years’ War. It took place on Saint Crispin’s Day on Friday, 25 October 1415.)

They march from left to right, in a column, their tunics and flags brightly painted in gold, reds and greens. The knights are upon their horses attended by their squires. I found it in a shop in Stratford on Avon (Shakespeare’s hometown). I stared at it in the shop, totally entranced by its beauty, literally stood there for ten minutes before the owner walked up behind me to whisper: “It’s beautiful, isn’t it.” And it was, three pieces of ceramic, taken from a mold of a relief found in a medieval church.

Back in the states I asked my Father for help in hanging it on the wall. Traveling with the Army I had few places to call my own, so I asked to hang it in my parents’ house over the fireplace. It was placed in a gold frame with a light on top, like something you might find in a museum. This made it even heavier and trying to hang it up was even more impossible. After dad had placed a nail into the wall, to hang a hook, we had trouble finding the exact spot where it needed to catch on the wall. Not only was it terrible top heavy but we couldn’t find the hook. If you ever hung a picture on a wall you know what I am talking about. Eventually, he thought he had found the spot and he slowly relaxed his grip thinking it was secure, but rather than staying on the wall it slipped from his hands and crashed down on the fireplace counter with a loud bang.

My Dad’s face dropped.

“Rob,” he said. “I think it cracked.” From his voice I knew it was worse than that.

It had shattered. Without the frame it would have been in pieces. At first I was horrified, but somehow it looked wonderful. The cracks had aged it, making it look like I had dug it up on an archaelogical dig, or stolen it from a cathedral in Europe.

“Don’t worry,” I told him. “It looks great.”

The Agincourt scene still hangs on that wall, above the fireplace and occasionally on Christmas my sister Candace decorates it with ivy and Christmas lights.

My point in telling you this story is that HISTORY COMES IN PIECES. We have to take those pieces and view them in historical context. This is where we try to understand the past by looking at the facts and circumstances that surround the situation or event.

I believe more often than not, we frame history in the context of the modern day.

We can’t help it. We are biased by the times we live in. It’s who we are, and how we see the past.

Now, why did we title this podcast: “What did the Romans ever do for us?”

One answer comes from the irreverent English comedy group, Monty Python in their movie:

The Life of Brian.

(Note* In the movie some Judian revolutionaries are sitting around complaining about the Romans. The head of the group asks the question: “What did the Romans ever do for us?” He then receives many answers from the group. The last line is as follows:

Reg: “But aside from the sanitation, education, medicine, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what did the Romans ever do for us?

There is silence for a moment until a voice pipes up: “Peace?”)

The skit from The Life of Brian looked at the occupation of the holy land during the time of Christ. To get the humor one must not only listen to the punch lines, but pay attention to the individuals performing the skit.

I don’t mean their names, such as Michael Palin, Terry Jones, John Cleese, and Eric Idle, but the fact that they are BRITISH.

If this skit was performed by a Japanese comedy troupe it would still be — with the proper translation — a funny skit, but not half as funny as the fact that the skit is being performed by the sons and grandsons of the people who ruled what was known as the British Empire.

The skit is not about the Romans at all, but is about themselves as a people.

My Mother figured it out. She was born in Maidenhead, England and came to the United States in the late 1920s. This was a no brainer for her. One Saturday Afternoon I went to see the movie and dropped by later to tell her about it.

The following are her exact words.

“You could say that about the British in all the countries they were in during the Empire.”

She picked up on it because when she was a little girl, the British Empire still existed. The Monty Python Troupe used the Romans to hold a mirror up to themselves.

For a civilization like the Romans to have flowered so greatly, only to end by the press of barbarians — (at least one of the arguments) — inspired the English historian Gibbon to write: THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

And for a city like Pompeii to end in an instant due to volcanic ash inspired Charles Dickens to write in a letter:

“Stand at the bottom of the Great market place of Pompeii, and look up at the silent streets, through the ruined temples of Jupiter and Isis…away to Mount Vesuvius — and lose count of time…in the strange and melancholy sensation of seeing the destroyed and the destroyer making this quiet picture in the sun…then feel the solitude and deadly lonesomeness of this place, then thousand times more solemn, than if the volcano, in its fury, had swept the city from the earth, and sunk it in the bottom of the sea.”

Charles Dickens, 1845

Pompeii is still a popular tourist spot. Where else can you see a moment in time captured like a mosquito caught in amber?

Other things are unchanged — for instance the voices that call out from small snatches of graffitti — still on the walls.

Most of the voices are profane, either boasting of sex, begging for votes, or as something as human as an accusation.

Does this speak of fraud in Ancient Pompeii? Do humans ever change?
And then there is the prophetic voice — a voice that speaks the loudest and starngely not only predicts the end of Pompeii, but the end of everything. The following graffitti was found in a city that died under ash and flame in 79 A.D.

“Nothing in the world can last forever.”

He knew. Of course its something that people know now. It’s prophetic simply because its as true back then as it is today. Like King Belhazzar, in the book of Daniel, who saw the writing on the wall — it’s a writing of doom…and the truth of all life is that NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. After all, the Romans, the Pompeians, the ancients weren’t all that different from us. We know they dreamed and hoped much in the same way we do now. History separates us, their pagan belefs isolate them from us, but they were like us — human. They loved, felt pain and joy, had shortcomings and also displayed the traits of…heroes. I see those ancient heroes walking around us in 2010. I’ve seen Hector, Achillies, Jason, Scipio, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every Soldier, Sailor, Marine, and Airmen needs to have the same grit and determination as any Hoplite or Roman Legionnaire.

The English people seem to understand their connection with the ancient Romans. The English can trace their people going back through Cromwell, Elizabeth the First, Willliam the Conquerer to the first step of a Roman Soldier upon the English shore. I have no doubt that when that Roman Soldier looked up at the white cliffs of Dover there were blue faced Celts shaking their war shields at him. The Romans dominated the English for only four hundred years — a mere pittance of time — out of their entire history, but somehow the English think themselves the inheritors of the ideals of Rome, and the defenders of classical studies and thought.

The United States is quite similar. Though never occupied by the Romans, we fought for our freedom from the British and took the same firm belief that we are the inheritors of the ideals of Rome, and the same defenders of classical studies and thought. As a result we have modeled our entire government on Roman ideals, and built a capitol whose architecture reflects the pillars and buildings of Rome itself.

What exactly were we trying to tell the rest of the world?

–End of partial transcript from Episode 1 titled: “What did the Romans ever do for us?.

(Note* Does this course of discussion interest you? Please leave a comment. Go to itunes, Hipcast or Podcast Alley to pick up a copy of this podcast for download. Listen to it here on the blog site as well.)

Season Three of Ancient Rome Refocused

Episode 13 -- "My MEU can beat your Roman Legio."
Rob Cain Interviews the screenwriter James Erwin who wrote a story on the popular website REDIT and it was purchased by a movie company. In addition, Rob interviews Gunny Sergeant "Red" Millis who provides insight into the capabilities of a Marine Expeditionary Unit. Both screen writer and Marine answer the question, "Can a MEU beat the Rome Empire?"
MP3 File
Episode 14 - "It's Good to be Queen."
The subject is the 3rd century queen who defied Rome and tried to carve out an Empire. Want to know more?
MP3 File

Season Two of Ancient Rome Refocused

Episode 7 -- "Washington Wore a Toga."
Our founding fathers and the Roman's have more in common than you think.

Episode 11 - "Who is James A. Bretney?"
James A. Bretney, film director has put together a TV pilot about the Roman Governor Creticus ("The Man of Chalk.") How far is the Hollywood of the now, different from acting in the ancient world?

Episode 12 - Title -- "Venus and Imaginative Archaeology"
In this episode Venus (the statue of the goddess) takes a journey across time. Jordan Harbour of the popular podcast Twilight Histories is interviewed (providing us insights into alternate histories of Ancient Rome). There is a book review of "A Guide to Archaeological Field Methods" with commentary by William Glover, archaeologist and historian.
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Season One of Ancient Rome Refocused

Episode 1 -- "What have the Romans ever done for us?"
Introduction to the series Ancient Rome Refocused.

Episode 5 --"The 24th Shitkickers Were Never The Same After The Peloponnese."
If you talk about the Romans you have to talk about the Greeks. This episode explores the ancient Greek play AJAX written by Sophocles. Included in this episode are interviews with Bryan Doerries, director and translator for the New York based THEATER OF WAR acting troupe.

Episode 6 --"I'm the Emperor and You're Not."
A look at a boy who visits a soothsayer and is foretold of his rise to the Emperorship.The listener then travels back in time (in Mr. Cain's time machine) to interview for the position of emperor. This is the last episode of Season One.

Ancient Rome Refocused Hotline

855-209-6230

Thanks for being a member of Ancient Rome Refocused. You are now part of the Senate, and what does a Senate like to do?

TALK, bicker, argue, debate!

If you have an opinion, leave it on the blog: http://ancientromerefocused.org

Don't be shy...this blog site is protected by the muse Calliope (epic poetry), and her sister Clio (muse of history).

Just follow a few simple house rules:

1. Educate through ideas
2. Share with us what you know
3. No profanity
4. Cite your sources if possible
5. Attack ideas not people

What’s your opinion? What have you read recently? Have you visited an ancient site? Would you like to visit one? What is your dream vacation?

Are you a member of a Roman Legio that meets every month? Tell us about it?

You can do three things...write in to the blog, the facebook group page or CALL!

In fact, phone in now...no one is looking.

855-209-6230

Need to get something off your chest on the assassination of Julius Caesar?

Got some hot breaking info on the rise of Augustus to the throne?

Make the call and I will put you on the air.

Personalize your experience. Tell us what history means to you. If you made a trip to a place of 'antiquity' give us a description of what it was like.

Don't wait.

History is for the Brave!

SO CALL!

Call:

855-209-6230

The author: [url=”/contact/”]Rob Cain[/url]

Rob Cain has traveled extensively through Europe, Italy, and Egypt. He is a fan of history, and enjoys reading books on the history of Rome. He currently has a podcast presentation on itunes and hipcast. The blog is for the free and open discussion of Ancient Rome based on Mr. Cain's observations noted in his podcast. Most episodes start out with an original dramatic narration written by Mr. Cain. In the podcasts he will include his own unique commentary, and interviews with subject matter experts. Comments are welcome and will be highlighted on the show.

Quotes

"The house of Western Civilization has many rooms but only one basement."Stephen Anderson, former head of the Classics at Winchester College

"To Romans I set no boundary in space or time. I have granted them dominion, and it has no end."Virgil, The Aeneid

"Those that have lived lives of mythological proportion have no trouble relating to ancient myth."Bryan Dorries, Theater of War (Director and Translator of the play AJAX presented to Soldiers returning from war)

"Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?"Will Rodgers, humorist

"Fiction and Drama freely invent and alter...but in the simple history there was ambition, pride, cruelty, ruthlessness, jealously, deceit, savagery and passion enough."Adrian Goldsworthy, author of the 2010 book titled: Antony and Cleopatra.

"Each age tries to form its own conception of the past. Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time."Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, 1861 – March 14, 1932) was an influential American historian in the early 20th century. He is best known for his book, The Significance of the Frontier in American History.

"Once curious feature of Roman-British studies must be noted. This is a tendency, perhaps due to the retractable nature of evidence, to create myths." Professor Rivet, author of Town and Country in Roman Britain. (1958)

"There are gods in everything." Thales of Miletus upon observing the effects of magnetic rock.

"Whatever was is now." -- OVID

I say: "What a lovely mound! Can't we dig here?" Max shakes his head sadly and pronounces the word of doom. "Roman."-- From Agatha Christie's book (mystery writer): Come Tell Me How You Live. A quote by her husband, Sir Max Mallowan, noted archeologist, showing his disappointment of not having a site to dig in his field of interest. Agatha Christie and her husband Sir Max Mallowan traveled throughout Syria and Iraq on field digs.

"History is sometimes a song in which many voices over many periods of time sing yet the themes of war and loss, love and redemption, strength and weakness echo over thousands of years from the treatment of veteran's to the short sightedness of the government, seem to form a rhyme which echos down the halls of time."-- William Glover, Archaelogist.

"I've stood up on Archilles' tomb, and heard Troy doubted; time will doubt of Rome."-- Lord Byron

"...I'm curious about things people aren't suppose to see -- so, for example I like going to the British Museum, but I would like it better if I could go into all the offices and storage rooms, I want to look in all the drawers and -- discover stuff."Rob Cain's sentiment as expressed by the character Julia in the book HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY.

"One of the best parts of my research is going to the British Library, pulling out an eighth century manuscript written on cowhide [vellum], and realizing your are literally the first person to read it in a 1000 years." Michael Penn from Mount Holyoke College.

Books you should enjoy

1. Ghosts of Vesuvius by Charles Pellegrino. Sub title: A new look at the last days of Pompeii, how towers fall, and other strange connections. Copyright 2004.

2. A.D.62: Pompeii by Rebecca East. A book about a time traveler and her experiences back in ancient Pompeii. Copyright 2003.

8. The Age of Bronze Series by Eric Shanower, Graphic Novels on Ancient Troy.

9. The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips, Random House, Copyright 2004.

10. The Ancient Guide to Modern Life by Natalie Haynes.

Listen to the podcast here!

Blog Reviews of Ancient Rome Refocused

FROM THE ANNE IS THE MAN BLOG SITE:

Ancient Rome Refocused is a new history podcast that deserves the highest acclaim. This podcast seems to be about Roman history, but in fact is about much more. This is because it is a podcast both of history narrative, which obviously is concentrated on Rome, and of history musings. On account of the last quality, already, the podcast has been widely compared with Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. I would also like to compare the show with Nate DiMeo's Memory Palace.

Host and maker of the podcast Rob Cain is off on a magnificent start with his series and even now, three episodes into the feed, we must grant him his own ground and assure that he is making something unique, something very good and in addition to that, I am absolutely sure, the history podcast audience is going to adore. The comparisons with Dan Carlin and Nate DiMeo serve here only as a characterization and not as some example of what Cain is trying to emulate. Cain combines the history musings, like Dan Carlin, with the astonishing narrative qualities of Nate DiMeo. Cain is telling Roman history with a quality of narrative immediacy that equals the impressive standard of DiMeo's Memory Palace and continues to engage in thoughts about that history in the compelling way of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. Thus he establishes an impressive combination of styles that both work extremely well in podcast and he does so with his own voice, his own style that bears only comparison, but not similarity with the mentioned predecessors.

First of all, I'd simply urge you to go and listen without letting me spoil the surprises in particular and the fun in general (feed). Allow me to highlight just these three identifiers for the first three issues. The first makes excellent use of Monty Python's scene in Life of Brian 'What have the Romans ever done for us'. The second lays out the basics of the Roman reality by projecting time travel. The third delivers a subtle expose on slavery in Rome (that dwarfs Dan Carlin's adventure into slavery) which is both history, audio drama, a poignant contemporary critique of low wage labor and prostitution as well as the most balanced analysis of Spartacus' slave revolt I have encountered ever. With even more lines to current times.

Even if Rob Cain stops now, he has produced a podcast classic. The idea he is about to deliver a fourth, and likely more episodes has me both reel in anticipation and yet also a bit worried: can he keep up with the towering standard he has set off with?

Walk This [Roman] Way
I did make one hypothesis while I was there. Just one. I wish I could share with you more than that. It was something I noticed. As I stood close to the location to the Temple of the Vestal Virgins I could see the collossium. In fact it is in walking distance. It was not that far from the Senate building where the laws were made, and the emperors sat, and I could imagine that when the wind was good, and the conditions right, 50, 000 voices shouting in their blood lust could be heard through the windows.

I wonder what laws were passed based on that sound?

I've been thoroughly enjoying the Ancient Rome Refocused podcast. It has the informality and "outside the envelope" thinking that puts one in mind of Hardcore History (I have a feeling that Rob Cain is going to get very tired of that comparison). Now I see that his blog is just as entertaining, informative, and thought provoking. Check it out.

Click here to go to Forgotten Classics and see the blog site and the review.

From the Teacher Toys Blog Site:

This is a podcast by an enthusiastic amateur. He has a lot to say about Ancient Rome. Since I'm teaching Roman History for the first time this year, I'm finding this pretty useful stuff.

Click here to go to Teacher Toys and see the blog site and the review.

From the forum myextralife.com, posted by 'runtspell'

"Another recent find for me is Ancient Rome Refocused. I can't overstate how much I enjoy this one! Check it out."

From Reddit History Comments

"Like a lot of people here I listen to the History of Rome podcast, done almost like clockwork weekly, by Mike Duncan. But a relatively new one, if you're into Roman history is Ancient Rome Refocused which is a lot more themeatical, rather than chronological, but we're lucky to get a new episode every couple of months."

Comment from Capital Grilling web site:

"If you're at all interested, Ancient Rome Refocused is also a good, if infrequently updated, podcast too. Instead of the History as a linear story of THOR, ARR tends to take a specific topic and spend an hour exploring it. One episode, for example, focused exclusively on the Roman Triumph."

Off-hand comment on Ancient Rome Refocused on a Blog entry on the road construction called 'roundabouts.':

Re: Roundabouts in the USA
by CarpeDiem » Fri Jul 01, 2011 12:06 am

I was able to figure out that roundabout thing, and even did a few loops around it (while listening to Ancient Rome Refocused of course!

Blog entry on the No Press Blog site.:

ancient rome refocused.

i like this one because i’ve just been cherry picking topics i think i’ll like. e.g. ‘the first thriller’ (about theseus and the minotaur). have a browse.

On the Average Gay Joe Web Site:

I had thought that Duncan was the only worthy podcast on ancient Rome out there, until I recently discovered Rob Cain's Ancient Rome Refocused. While I've only listened to the first episode thus far, it appears in some ways to be a mash-up of Duncan's with another favorite of mine: Bruce Carlson's My History Can Beat Up Your Politics. By this I mean that Cain, in the first episode at least, talks about the Western fascination with ancient Rome and draws some comparisons between their history and that of modern times. I must say that the 9/11 recordings from NYC emergency personnel were chilling to hear again, especially so close to the 10th anniversary of that day, but linking this to what the destruction of Pompeii must have been like to the ancient Roman psyche was brilliant. This also means to me that Charles Pellegrino's book Ghosts of Vesuvius, undoubtedly one of the main inspirations behind Cain's first podcast, merits careful attention in its own right. All in all, a very commendable start to what I'm sure will be a podcast that I'll enjoy just as much as I do Duncan's.

Give them both a try if you haven't already, because if you love history as much as I do you won't be disappointed.

http://averagegayjoe.blogspot.com/

by CarpeDiem » Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:22 am: On the HISTORY OF ROME web site

I agree that what makes Rome interesting is how many of the ideas that formed the backbone of the U.S. constitution were Roman and and Greek (and even British too). The latest episode of the Ancient Rome Refocused podcast delves into the influence of Cicero, Plutarch, Livy, and Polybius, and how the Founding Fathers' obsession made its way into the fabric of our government (btw.. Polybius's ideas of balance of power and government evolution come from Aristotle - thanks to Mike on the tour for pointing this out).

Through battle, triumphs, and high-office, Romans sought immortal fame. Based on this aspiration, they would be thrilled to know that their ideas, or their expression of their ideas learned from Greece, live on in Rome's protegeé: the U.S. and the western world. I like to think of Roman history as a back-in-time continuation of American history. That's what makes Rome so exciting. Rome repsesents where we came from and where we may go. We have the gift of past history knowledge, and that gives us the tools to make a better future.

On Textkit » by beerclark » Mon Oct 17, 2011 2:10 am

I wish I could tell you about a good TV or Movie documentary, but I only know what I happen to find on a learning channel when I have time to watch TV.

I will say that for podcasts, I have found 2 that I think are great. They are both by amateurs but I think their passion and their respect for history comes out in the podcasts. They both make mistakes and acknowledge them [and forget pronunciations]. Yet they obviously put in time and effort into their work and I think it shows.

1) The History of Rome: by Michael Duncan - A chronological history of the Roman Republic/Empire. It is based on the rulers [emporers] through the ages with the occasional episode on the culture. There is Mr Duncan's sense of humor inserted along with the occasional veiled joke. He also is very clear on his sources, especially on questionable or disputed parts of Roman history.
2) Ancient Rome Refocused: by Rob Cain - This is more giving a perspective of Rome to modern times. Not so much to compare and contrast so much as trying to tie the two together to make the listener understand those times then hitting them with the reality of the ancient times. One episode was specifically about someone going back in time to ancient Rome. Then questioning the listener as to their current morality & hygiene to what it would take to just survive back then.

I know its not exactly what you asked about but I thought it might be worth mentioning these to you.